Blues Brothers and the Battle of the Blues

So - she says to me, waving two packages of glass, one in each hand. "Which of these CiM colours do I buy - Cornflower or Ming? And how are these different from Effetre Lapis anyway?" I peered at her - looked at the colours and said: "They are blue. There are no choices. Buy them all. Because they are bloooooooooo."

However, not everyone shares my extreme prejudice for the colour blue, so here is my head to head comparison of CiM 571 Cornflower, CiM 562 Ming, and Effetre (Moretti) 242 Medium Lapis.

First up - the picture below is CiM 571 - Cornflower. What a stunning shade of blue. I should mention that these three blues are more like a cobalt blue - a dark, rich shade that the camera can't really capture accurately.

Anyhoo, that is Cornflower. It is slightly streaky, very, very soft, and kept popping the end of the rod off. Gorgeous colour.

Next up is Ming - also a gorgeous colour - less streaky and variable. Slightly stiffer too. Slightly translucent - but in a self coloured bead - you don't really notice it too much. Ming is a little darker than Cornflower.


And below is Effetre Medium Lapis. This is a still darker shade of blue, a little darker than Ming.

This colour is all three - side by side. From the left, Cornflower, Ming and Lapis.


And this is a Cornflower base on the left and Ming base on the right, with Ming dots on the left and Cornflower dots on the right. Notice the Cornflower has done some wonderful things in terms of separating and showing patterns. Kewel, eh?

Again, Cornflower on the base on the left, and Ming on the base on the right, with Ivory dots. No reaction.


And finally - from the top left, clockwise: Ming, Cornflower, and Lapis - all rolled in white frit.


So which would I pick? I thought I made that clear - they are blue - I would pick them all. But I am very intriqued by the potential for interesting effects with the Cornflower ... But the slight translucency of the Ming is always appealing. And the Effetre Lapis is darker - more Lapis like. I think I would mix them altogether in one bead!